Between Two Worlds
by Nemael
Summary: Reality is not a simple division between what is and what is not. It is an omnipotent force that is as amiable as it is malicious. It will destroy and it will change the very fabric of the universe as it pleases, tearing the unsuspecting from their homes and thrusting them into worlds beyond their imagining. It always has a plan and it will forever see them come to fruition.
1. Freedom's Progress

Portals. Rifts. Wormholes. Tears. All provide the same function: To transport matter from one point in time or space to another. They may appear at random and send someone to their demise. Or they can be controlled by users of a magic referred to as aethermancy.

For some it takes decades of training and dedication to master them. Others gain the ability at random and are incapable of exerting any control. Still others go through the gates of death, only to return to their world disparate.

A few years back, I met my demise. I burned; stripped of everything I was and ever would have been. I stepped into the blazing inferno of my own creation and returned as a vague crescent of who I once was. I had been irrevocably seared from the experience and yet… I returned whole. New. With capabilities far beyond my wildest imaginings, to the horror and dismay of those who set these events into motion by shattering the idle dreams I thought was my reality.

They forcefully thrust me into a new world I did not know and I retaliated, tearing down the painted walls of our false existence to reveal the maggots and rot that lay beneath. I stripped the world of everything it once was, thinking I was helping the people who were caught in the same nightmare.

However, they did not respond in kind. They wanted to continue believing. They took what I unveiled to them and spat in my face. They revealed my intentions to people whose existence was not meant to aid, but destroy us. They lit the brand that would scald me. They initiated the events that would come to color my very existence.

They thought they were being merciful.

In retaliation and with utter disdain for those I once cherished, those that I once thought would be by my side no matter the storm weathered, I opened a rift. I tore a hole in the fabric of reality and charged through with both animosity and glee in my heart. I would finally be out from under the tyrannical rule of the Overseers and instead be guided by the whims of the Universe. I would no longer have to answer to their false prophecies and their gestures of venomous kindness.

Unfortunately, the irrevocable truth is that the Universe and their deities who may guide us have a unique sense of humor. Something I would quickly discover when I landed not in the cavernous depths of a new home on some planet whose name was not known, but on the sandy dunes of a world I would discover was embroiled in the throes of strife and fear; the likes of which would put even my home world to shame.


	2. Fatal Confrontation

p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: .5in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"The sensation of sand swelling beneath my feet and between my toes was an uncomfortable feeling that was not easy to ignore. With an insane fervor it was bringing back memories of a time when my life had been blissful and my thoughts had not been obliterated by forces outside my control. It was causing me to think back on events that had once had a distinct layer of infantile innocence, the balmy and idle dreams of a child who knew nothing of their world. It was reminding me of what led to my current existence and began to make my blood run cold./span /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: .5in;"I swallowed hard and inhaled deeply. Exhale. Now was not the time to be caught in the past, to try and diminish the chill that had settled into my bones. This was a completely new world that I had been thrown onto and I knew nothing of its people and this sandy environment. What if they were just as vile as those I had been running from? What if I had instead stepped onto emtheir /emhome planet as opposed to managing an actual escape? It was not something I should be distracted from, especially when I considered the fact that I knew little of deserts./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: .5in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';" /spanWhat weather awaited me? Was the fact the wind had begun picking up a sign that I should take to the skies and get the hell out of the vicinity? To quickly find a safe haven that would shelter me from an inescapable storm? Or was it merely a sign that rain would soon be slashing at my fur and I would be trudging through dunes of mud?/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: .5in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';" /spanA cursory glance at the sky did not give me a clue. It was relatively clear with two distinct suns hanging high on the horizon, appearing as though they were mere feet away from one another. I quickly looked away and turned my gaze instead to what lay before me, attempting to watch for any signs of trouble. Of course, would a sandstorm be visible before it was on top of me? Or would I be lost within particles of sand that tore at the flesh? The stories I had heard about them were horrific to me even then, but that did not give me any viable information to work with./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: .5in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';" /spanResigned to not knowing until I was able to gather more distance, I instead concentrated on the fact I was brought to such a strange world in the first place. What possible purpose could my existing here serve? And although I had not traveled too far from my initial landing point, was this planet even populated? Who—or what—could I possibly run into and serve? Did this planets deity even work alongside its people, if any did exist? More questions I could not answer until I found a town or possibly even a city. I shook my head and took a cursory look at what lay ahead./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: .5in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';" /spanAs far as I could see, there was no wind whipping the sand into frenzy. Instead, the gusts that had been blowing across my fur had slowed to an almost nonexistent breeze, something I felt suspicious of rather than relieved. I had heard more sayings about being in the calm before the storm far too many times to even give in to the possibility that luck may be on my side. After all, Lady Luck was a bitch and I was on her hit list. If she had her way, I would have been drawn into the desert version of a whirlpool, if such a thing was even a reality./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: .5in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';" /spanTurning my mind away from possibilities, I continued to walk for what felt like hours. Days. All I saw for miles was the ever constant beige of dust and the reminder that time had not flown by as quickly as it felt, evidenced by the fact the suns had barely moved. In a fit of boredom and agitation, I took to a jog and then eventually flew for what time I could manage in this ever present heat, idly wondering if the mind-numbing nonexistence of emanything/em would end./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: .5in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';" /spanGroaning mentally, I borderline prayed I would be able to open a new rift when I stumbled across the remains of a city. A distinct chill shuddered down my spine as I slowly entered the ruins, taking note that the destruction had been relatively recent. Stone was continuously crumbling from the various buildings that still stood. A shuttered window slapped loudly against what I assumed was concrete and a mild wind blew small bushels of weeds and tattered clothing across wide, cobblestone streets. Glass crunched beneath my talons and tore into the skin left bare of scales./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: .5in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';" /spanI found I could no longer decide which was more disconcerting: the fact there were no people or that the events that had caused this place to fall into ruin had occurred emrecently/em./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: .5in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';" /spanIt was then I saw someone. There was a person lying in the middle of the destruction and decay, shimmering pieces of golden metal scattered around their body. Black lines of smoke tinged the area around them and I could see blood trickling from the numerous cuts inflicted to their body. By their hand lay what I assumed was once a weapon and the cause of what appeared to be their mortal wounds./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: .5in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';" /spanPausing long enough to remove the shards of glass that managed to get caught in my skin, I sidled my way up to them, accompanied only by the sound of my breathing and the eerie emchhkt/em of claws on stone. Although I knew I could be exceedingly morose when presented by reminders of home, it did not mean I would shy away from aiding those who were injured. Or at the very least giving a burial to those who perished long before I reached them./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: .5in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';" /spanHowever, as I got closer to the man lying on the ground and knelt down, I could hear him breathing. It was shallow; so faint that I could barely pick up on the distinct rhythm. Whatever had gone to pieces in his hand had not dealt an immediate killing blow. Immediately my sympathy for his predicament grew. While I knew nothing of whom he was or what had occurred to bring the city into the state it was now presented in, I still held the conviction that no one deserved to die like this; let alone when something could still be done./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: .5in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';" /spanCarefully maneuvering him onto his back with as little jostling of his limbs as I could manage, I withheld a gasp of shock when I saw the damage that had been rendered onto him. Shards of metal stuck from his chest, stomach and legs, tearing away portions of his black suit and the pink shirt he wore beneath. Half of his face had been blackened and charred with small pieces of glass piercing his jaw and eye socket./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: .5in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';" /spanI grimaced inwardly./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: .5in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';" /spanWhat little I had been taught when it came to caring for those who suffered wounds such as this was an asset that I immediately used to his benefit. Although first I needed to get him out from under the glaring suns and into one of the buildings, some place where he would not perish from heat stroke instead of what should have easily been mortal wounds. He must have had the will of a man desperate to live or a resilient body to have survived this./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: .5in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';" /spanTurning away for a brief moment, I quickly set about the task of gathering the required materials to create a makeshift stretcher, which was a simple enough feat. The harder task lay in getting it underneath him without disturbing his body unnecessarily. I knew nothing of what damage may lie beneath the skin; what internal hemorrhaging he may be suffering or if any bones had shattered./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: .5in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';" /spanMoving around him cautiously, I knelt down at his head and eased it up onto the bottom of the stretcher. Carefully I began pushing it underneath his body while simultaneously moving or lifting limbs I felt reasonably certain were okay to boost. Calmly I moved around him and slowly slid him fully onto the device and then I moved to one end and began to lift./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: .5in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';" /spanMy breath hitched when he began to slip from the partially tattered fabric I had used for a base, suddenly realizing I had managed to forget to tether him to the stretcher in order to prevent this exact thing from happening. Cautiously I drew straps made from the fabric I had uncovered inside of a what I assumed was once someone's home, drawing them around his body and tying them to the bars. I had crafted them from the ramparts of a nearby saloon that had suffered more damage than the rest of the city./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: .5in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';" /spanNow certain I had not forgotten any necessary steps, I slowly dragged the stranger to one of the few buildings that had not been entirely obliterated, the ceiling and walls still intact to prevent any unnecessary sunlight from filtering through./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: .5in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';" /spanEasing the stretcher down to the floor and checking to make sure he still had a pulse by pressing my fingers against his inner wrist, I ran from the room to gather whatever I could find. I needed something to remove the metal and glass, to cut through his clothing and skin if necessary, to staunch his wounds and any detrimental blood flow, something to clean the instruments I would be using, as well as well as any form of needle and thread to stitch him back up once I had finished./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: .5in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';" /spanDesperately I wished I had the strength within me to at least make minor use of my aethermancy to mend the smaller wounds or heal any internal damage, but opening that first rift had been enough to exhaust that avenue for several days; if not weeks. What little control I could exert over it was not enough to bring myself to bear when it was truly needed./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: .5in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';" /spanA scowl tugged at the corners of my lips, the flesh pulling against the upper portion of my bare skull as the muscles contracted to the best of their abilities. If they had not chased me out in the first place, I would never have come here. However, on the other end, if I had not arrived, this man would have died in the middle of an unknown city hidden within the numerous dunes of sand./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: .5in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';" /spanI was no longer sure if I should curse the Overseers or thank them for giving both this man and myself a second chance at life, regardless if it turned out for better or worse./p 


End file.
